McCain-Palin rally participants like what GOP is offering in ’08

VIENNA — Rachael Turner of Vienna, an eighth-grader at Warren John F. Kennedy High School, missed class today, but she had a good excuse.

She and her mother, Elizabeth Friedman of Vienna, were among those who came to Winner Aviation hangar for today’s Republican Party presidential victory rally.

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the party nominee, and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, his vice presidential running mate, were to speak about 4:10 p.m. today.

“When I heard they were coming to town, I asked my daughter if she rather go to school or come to the rally,” Friedman said. “Her choice was obvious.”

Rachael said she was excited to hear the candidates speak, particularly Palin. “She’s smart, she’s ambitious, she’s very accomplished, and I’ll hope she’ll be our next president after servicing as vice president.”

Security was rather heavy entering the hangar located at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, but the line to get inside moved quickly.

Among those attending their first political rally were Lynda Johnson of Champion. Johnson, who described herself as a lifelong Democrat, said she will vote Republican because “they are not for big government and high taxes.”

Johnson said she was disappointed by John Kerry, the Democratic Party presidential nominee in 2004, and feels the same about U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the party’s presidential candidate this year.

“I’m a Democat, and we have a liberal candidate again,” she said. “I’m not a liberal. I’m a Democrat.”

Mike Gombos of Niles, who described himself as an independent, said the Republican Party has character, honesty and integrity, compared to Obama, who is “an empty-suit liberal.”